Severe preeclampsia is associated with a positive family history of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate an association between a family history of cardiovascular disease and severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome (Haemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets). METHODS: One hundred twenty-eight women with a history of severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome and 123 women with previous uncomplicated pregnancies only were included in the study. All participants completed questionnaires about diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia among their first-degree relatives, which were subsequently confirmed by the relatives' general practitioners. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia among first-degree relatives of both groups. Statistical analysis was done using chi(2)-analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of familial cardiovascular disease among women with a history of severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome (23%) compared to controls (19%) was not significantly different (OR 1.3, 95%CI 0.7-2.5). However, women with a history of severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome more often had one or more first-degree relatives with hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia before the age of 60 years compared to controls (54% vs. 32%, respectively; OR 2.6, 95%CI 1.5-4.3). The prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia among first-degree relatives, irrespective of age, also was significantly higher among women with a history of severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome as compared to controls (60% vs. 42%, respectively; OR 2.0, 95%CI 1.2-3.4). CONCLUSION: Severe preeclampsia is associated with a positive family history of hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia.

[Eye witnesses and the flagellants in the year 1349]. / Ooggetuigen en flagellanten anno 1349.

Deeply affected and often desperately afraid, many contemporaries recorded their observations and emotions. These reports--no matter how obviously subjective they sometimes were--provide valuable information about what happened during the plague pandemic of 1348-1350. Thus many of our fellow countrymen left behind a direct testimony: Bartholomew of Bruges, a canon in Andenne; Gilles li Muisis, the abbot of Saint Martin in Tournai; Ludovicus Sanctus of Beringen; Simon de Couvin, a canon in Liège; Jan van Boendale, an alderman's clerk in Antwerp; John of Burgundy (also known as John of Mandeville), professor of medicine in Liège; but also texts in Middle Dutch that were not known up to now, and therefore not published, such as the important thesis by Arent Schryver, licentiate in medicine (see next article); an account in verse in the Brabant Chronicle, as well as contemporary testimonies in a different language that have been translated into our language, such as that by John of Eschinden, Johannes de Rupescissa or Guy de Chauliac (who had had the plague himself). They describe the precautions, the causes (God, a comet, an eclipse of the sun, the polluted water, the planets, the air), the symptoms, the social groups most likely to be affected (the youth, the lower classes, the clergy), the high mortality, the problems of hygiene,the social and administrative chaos, the general panic, the flight of countless people. One of the most virulent reactions led to the emergence of the flagellant sect. They originated from Hungary and advanced in an unstoppable advance with a growing number of followers as far as our country, singing, praying, dancing and flaying themselves until they drew blood. We only recently discovered what they sang in Dutch: very recently, a unique roll of parchment was discovered that they carried in their processions, and that contains the text of their songs and a flagellant sermon. The existence of this valuable document and its contents are presented here for the first time.

[The plague regimen of Arent Schryver]. / Het pestregimen van Arent Schryver.

This article is concerned with the edition of a 15th century plague treatise in Middle Dutch, by Arent Schryver, licentiate in medicine, from Dalen (Drenthe, the Netherlands), that has been discovered recently. The text has been found in manuscript number 33 of the Fürstliche Salm-Salmsche Bibliothek in Anholt (FRG). It is the most detailed plague treatise in Middle Dutch known to date. Its structure and contents are clearly based upon the Compendium de epidimia of the Medical Faculty of Paris, but on numerous occasions it diverges from its model. Therefore it deserves its own place among the numerous plague treatises.

[Dietetics in 16th-century cookbooks]. / De diëtetiek in zestiende-eeuwse kookboeken.

Throughout the ages, dietetics has been an important part of medicine, but for many centuries it included far more than nutrition alone. Nevertheless, this was the part that physicians studied most. Not only did they prescribe some victuals as materia medica, but even the way to cook them played a part: in other words, the first 'culinary' recipes were written by physicians, without any distinction amidst purely medical prescriptions. On the other hand, we find compilations of "medical" cooking recipes, the first cookery books, written by physicians. We know about such lost examples dating from as early as the 5th century BC. In the Low Countries, even in the 16th century these cookery books are mostly written by physicians. Their dietetics still leans on Galen's humoral doctrine and remains restricted to knowledge about food. From that moment the word acquires the restricted meaning it has nowadays.

Clavines as antitumor agents, 3: Cytostatic activity and structure/activity relationships of 1-alkyl agroclavines and 6-alkyl 6-noragroclavines.

The cytostatic potential of twenty antibiotic agroclavines has been examined in the L5178y mouse lymphoma cell system. Twelve of these compounds are described for the first time. It is shown that the substituent at N-1 of agroclavine is very important whereas the substituent at N-6 is of less influence if it is not hydrogen. Incorporation studies in the presence of 1-propylagroclavine suggest that DNA synthesis in the lymphoma cells is inhibited. The effect on the corresponding [3H]thymidine incorporation in murine spleen lymphocytes is comparably low. Neither a significant change of mRNA efflux nor of DNA polymerase alpha and beta activities was caused. The mechanism of action seems to be a fundamentally new one for ergoline compounds as interactions with alpha-adrenoceptors, dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors are not involved.

[Critical evaluation of the endodontic treatment administered in 1975 by students of the dental department, Mainz]. / Kritische Betrachtung der endodontischen Behandlungen im Jahre 1975 durch Studenten der ZMK-Klinik, Mainz.

The endodontic work of students in the department for tooth conservation at the Dental Hospital in Mainz, FRG, during 1975 was described. A total of 850 cases were studied in regard to the following: 1) cause and type of endodontic treatment, 2) type of root filling material, 3) number of appointments, 4) temporary root canal filling with limited period of storage, 5) degree and homogeneity of the filling.